January 3rd, 2009:

There are several articles out today about the Israeli/Gaza War, one of them is posted in The Huffington Post entitled “Where is Israel Going?” by MU Rosenberg.

That is a good question. Mr. Rosenberg wonders how the Arab world is dealing with the massive retaliation from Israel. News media are posting pictures of Palestinian families wounded and killed. This couldn’t set well with the rest of the Sunni world.

Wounded Palestinians

All I am saying is that there have been many instances in recent memory of situations where it was abundantly clear that necessity demanded negotiation with terrorists. We knew that in Ireland as recent as 1998 when a group of diplomats along with the Irish Republican Army negotiated the Good Friday Agreement.

From the article:

So the questions have to be asked. Does the Gaza war improve Israel’s long-term (or even short-term) situation? Might it not have been better to induce Hamas to stop the shelling by ending the blockade Israel imposed back when Hamas won the Palestinian election?

Ahem! Isn’t this a diplomatic solution?

I can’t condone raining rockets down on civilians, but sooner or later there has to be a realization that organizations like Hezbollah and Hamas are here (and sometimes gain enough popularity to be the majority party among Palestinians) and must be recognized if progress and peace is to be made.